Bad teachers

[Undertoad]

Most teachers are fine and I'm absolutely certain that the teachers we have on the Cellar are excellent. But as a chronically terrible student, and a weak, sniveling little kid, teachers and I never got along too well.

It wasn't that I disrupted the class -- no, I would never even be capable of that. It was that I was not interested in their class because there were so many better ways to learn, and because they were lousy, rotten civil servants stuck in a pathetic system. And also because I was twice as smart as any of them, and they knew it.

1. 7th grade chemistry

Before class I was having fun with my desk-mate Julie, and I playfully pushed her books off the desk. The teacher saw this and was offended by it, and rushed over and hit me with the full force of his backhand. I fell off my chair. I spent the rest of the class crying on my desk.

During these years, I was bullied relentlessly, and now I think this event probably helped start it. And I loved the guy before that, and his subject; afterwards, of course, I had little interest in either.

2. 12th grade humanities

Introducing a work of art to the class, the teacher said "At this point we've gone over these so much, ANYONE in the class should be able to explain what these paintings are about. Even the worst students... Tony?"

The full weight of the disrespect sunk in immediately. I babbled something and pretty much shut down in that class for the rest of the year.

3. 6th grade

I was headed back from the bathroom when I passed by my homeroom, and heard my homeroom teacher - responsible for about half my day - telling the class that if something was missing they should search my desk for it because I was messy and irresponsible. This guy was Mr. Football, having missed out on a pro career because of a knee injury, and he had no respect for tiny, wimpy little me. His constant browbeating left me with little self-esteem. I hated him so deeply that I would pretend-"shoot" him, holding my pencil as if it was a gun. In return, he exposed me as a chronic underachiever, had me kicked out of the gifted program, encouraged others to belittle me, and pretty much set me up for failure.

These people held my future in their hands, and they smooshed it like a bug.

I got back at all my bad teachers by pooping on them.

Well, I wish I had, anyway.

I had my fair share of steaming-turd teachers, but I just never let it bother me. I was pretty constantly picked on throughout my school career. That's okay. I just let the teachers know that their opinion of me didn't matter, and that while I was out big pimping in ten years, they were still going to be making $40k/year as a teacher in Carroll County. I even made one cry once. Aaaahhhhhhhhhh, those were the days.

If anything has affected me in a negative way, it has been my impatience, which I got from my dad. And my love of eating, which I got from him, coupled with a physical laziness, which I picked up after I moved and reinforced once I got a computer. Yes, I reckon if I'd get back to eating Subway and going to the gym, life would be just about perfect right now. The problem is that it's not bad at all as it is, and I don't feel a real need to change it.

Anyway. Yeah, fuck bad teachers. And fuck bullies in school that are enabled by them. I always told myself that while they were wasting away in Carroll County, mopping piss-soaked Wal Mart bathroom floors, I'd be doing something. For the most part, I was right. I plan on letting them all know it at my 10 year high school reunion. If only I can engineer my independent wealth before then...

[elSicomoro]

What brought this up, UT?

I was very fortunate--maybe it's because I went to Catholic schools, or just good schools period. My teachers were generally pretty decent and saw my potential. They'd get on me if my grades slipped at all, and encouraged me. I only had one really nasty teacher--a nun that I had the misfortune of having for grades 3 & 4. She was pretty mean, to the point of being hateful. She didn't faze me in the end though. Overall, my mom was probably harder on me when it came to school than teachers.

Corporal punishment went out during my 2nd grade year (1983-84). I was fortunate never to face the "board of education." I had a friend that was still facing it though--in high school.

I have a 10-year HS reunion coming up next summer. I initially had mixed feelings about going. I didn't go to the 5-year in 1999 (I had just moved out to DC at the time), and quite frankly, I don't know if I would have gone. As a whole, I hated high school--mainly because of the stupid motherfuckers that I dealt with. Fortunately, most of the teasing died after sophomore year, and was non-existant by mid junior year. (By that time, I learned how to use my size and words to my advantage. Worked like a champ...and still does.)

By '99, I had pretty much cut myself off from anyone I dealt with in high school, with the exception of my best friend, John. We talked about the reunion while I was in St. Louis in April, and I agreed with how he put it: Yeah, HS sucked, but it's like a train wreck...you can't help but go to see what's happened to everyone.

There are certainly some people with whom I wouldn't mind catching up, and as I thought about it more, it makes perfect sense to go: Terry Blastenbrei, the stand-up comic wannabe, the singer wannabe, that fat fucker that ran with the "alcoholics", the guy that was "going to bring a gun to school", the smart guy that wouldn't hang with the smart clique...graduated magna cum laude from college, is smarter and more sharp-tongued than ever before, has moved across the country, has a great job making mad paper, thinks Catholicism is a crock of shit, and...the best parts of all...is engaged to a black woman, living in sin, and has no plans to have children or even get married.

It's going to be a hoot.

But you're still ugly.

[Undertoad]

Nothing brings it up. It's just stories that I thought people would like to hear, and then hopefully share their own stories.

[vsp]

In the West Chester public school system, I don't recall many teachers that were actively bad or abusive. Plenty of mediocrity, of course, with a few side helpings of apathy, but not many stood out as actual impediments.

I did have at least one teacher that was effectively _too good_ for his role. When I was in the gifted program in my middle-school years, I worked with a math & science teacher named Pete Lee who was fantastic. A few years later, he was transferred to a "regular" middle-school class, and my sister had him for 7th- or 8th-grade math.

I was more than mildly surprised when there was a revolt of sorts against his methods. My sister bitched regularly about the homework assignments, and I recognized some of them when I looked at them; many revolved around word problems that not only made you apply the mathematical rules and equations being studied, but also made you think about their applications in everyday life. You might have to actually READ the problems to deduce the actual equations to be solved, instead of being simply presented with blanks to fill in, but the principles were sound.

Instead, the kids looked at the problems and said "What the hell are these?" They took them home to their parents, who were also expecting simple fill-in-the-blank homework, and they said "What the hell are these?" The parents raised complaints, and I shook my head ruefully from a distance. Making kids think? Unthinkable!

[Griff]

I'm about to go back into the belly of the beast and hope I come out with an idea about how to teach children. My last experience was no more than an indoctrination program geared toward making us toe the line politically.

Linda Schrock Taylor quotes one of my favorite ed authors, two time NYS teacher of the year John Gatto:

Labeling schooling as "An Enclosure Movement For Children," Gatto says that "The secret of American schooling is that it doesn't teach the way children learn, and it isn't supposed to. School was engineered to serve a concealed command economy and an increasingly layered social order; it wasn't made for the benefit of kids and families as those people would define their own needs… dynamics which make forced schooling poisonous to healthy human development…Work in classrooms isn't significant work; it fails to satisfy real needs pressing on the individual; it doesn't answer real questions experience raises in the young mind; it doesn't contribute to solving any problem encountered in actual life. The net effect of making all schoolwork external to individual longings, experience, questions, and problems is to render the victim listless…Growth and mastery come only to those who vigorously self-direct. Initiating, creating, doing, reflecting, freely associating, enjoying privacy – these are precisely what the structures of schooling are set up to prevent, on one pretext or another."

UT has his scars but I'd guess his education was self-directed if only as a reaction to the oppresive enviroment. Gatto writes a lot about this concept and about how teachers need to be flexible so that students can learn things that are valuable to them. Lack of choice, overwhelming bureacracy, and coercion are holding Americas schools back. If Bush really wanted to change education he'd send a voucher to every parent in the country with no strings. Homeschools, church affiliated, high tech, low tech, Waldorfs, everybody could take their best shot. Instead of having parents be the arbiters of quality or value even many of the choice advocates preach testing centralizing more power in Washington or at the state level.

I remember sitting in pep rallys feeling relieved at not being in the classroom but being really creeped out by their concept of school spirit in a school that had very little to be peppy about. Whip up the hate towards your rival schools... one lesson we've learned pretty well at least as a nation.

[OnyxCougar]

My entire school career sucked, until Senior Year.

Firstly, my family moved every two years, so I never had a chance to form those "long term" friendships with anyone, nor did I want to, after the first couple of traumatic experiences leaving my friends. I bounced between Arizona and California with brief stops in England for good measure.

The only parts that didn't suck:

Last semester of sixth grade, Arizona: Mr. Holland.

Mr. Holland was terribly cool. The school was one building with two floors (the first school with 2 floors I'd ever seen) and Mr. Holland set up a radio station from his room on the 2nd floor linked to the office PA system. Every morning students from any class could come in and sign up to be a reader for the morning "news and announcements". A second person would be selected to flip the switches and play the music at the right time. It really encouraged us to read better, and work on our public speaking. Mr. Holland encouraged us to enter the spelling bee and I did. I was first in class, then in the school, went on to district, made 5th in that, and moved on to the County Spelling Bee. I was horribly nervous and was the first one out on the word... tepid. The lady who read the words off was Ms. randall, an English teacher at the local high school. She pronounced it funny, it sounded like Teped. So I spelled it with the second e. Yeah. Shattered me. I hated her for years. Mr. Holland also was the one who took an hour a day for song lyrics examination. I remember in particular we did "City of New Orleans" and "Down Under". We had to decipher the lyrics, write them down, and go line by line with the vocab and definitions. He brought in some Vegemite and crackers at the end of the Down Under segment, so we could try it. Several of us went home sick.

9th grade Spanish, (first quarter), California.

I can't remember the teacher's name, but I remember learning so much Spanish from him, even in just the first quarter I was there. We were working on pronounciation and vocab, and he would bring in empty cans and cartons and boxes of foods and hold them up and say the name...and we weren't allowed to speak a word of English in his class. The first day he started talking to us in Spanish, telling us to open our books and we all stared at him. He finally demonstrated, speaking very slowly, and we suddenly understood. I LOVED that class, and when I start teaching I'm going to use that same approach.

After the first quarter I moved to Arizona and got Mr. Murillo for Spanish, and failed it. I hated it. All dry textbook stuff. Ew. Didn't bother to take a second semester.

11th/12th and 12th (part two) grade, Arizona. Donn Webb.:
Mr. Webb was hands down THE coolest teacher ever. He taught US History for the Juniors (required) and Civic/Free Enterprise for the Seniors (also required). He had one period of the G.A.T.E. kids, that he actually taught.

He was also an Oldies DJ on Sunday mornings on the local AM radio station. His teachinig philosophy was: if you want to do the work, and do what it takes to learn the material, then go to your counselor and transfer into my first hour class. Leave now. Come back first hour tomorrow. OK, now. those of you who are left, we're having our first test. What group performed the song, "Get a Job" in the 50's?

There was dead silence. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy.

I raised my hand. He pointed at me. "The Silhouettes." He gave me this great big smile and said, "Correct! You just got your first "A". Come down here, grab this book, do attendance, and then go down the list of people who are here and write thier grades down as I ask them the questions."

Thus began my career as his T.A. I eventually started teaching the class, because he gave me a key to his office and told me to go type out a quiz for chapter 4 (with answer key), make 20 copies and have it on his desk for the next day. Next day I'd grade everyone else' test. I sent out all the deficiency notices on the students. He'd get hungry and throw me his truck keys and say, "run across the street, get me a cheesebuger and fries and a coke." Then he'd throw me his wallet.

I had Mr. Webb for US History, then in my second senior year I had him for Teacher's Aide, Civics, Free Enterprise, and I took Poli Sci just because he taught it. Out of the 4 hours I day I had school that year, I had him for 3. It was a good year.


I remember other teachers, but those are the outstanding ones. I'm just happy that I don't have any horror stories, like UT.

[vsp]

Originally posted by sycamore
I have a 10-year HS reunion coming up next summer... We talked about the reunion while I was in St. Louis in April, and I agreed with how he put it: Yeah, HS sucked, but it's like a train wreck...you can't help but go to see what's happened to everyone.

Isn't that what Google's for? (Complicated slightly for women, who have a nasty tendency to marry and change their last names.)

Off the top of my head, I don't remember hearing anything about a five-year reunion, and I passed on my ten-year. My keep-in-contact list from that era was down to three (out of a class of 400+ and a school of 1700+), and two of them were twin brothers from the following graduating class with whom I occasionally watched some pro wrestling. The third was a longtime female friend who moved to California and drifted out of sight.

My fifteen-year would be sometime next year, and I'll probably pass on that as well. My ten-year COLLEGE reunion would be this year, except that I already have everyone I'd want to see bookmarked in my LiveJournal, and none of them were even remotely near my major.

[xoxoxoBruce]

School sucked.
From 11 years old on, every school holiday and summer, work=money, Coool!
I have two friends that are teachers, both female. One taught High School and just retired at 55 the other Jr High and will retire in two years at 55. They both speak of how they loved the children (well most) but the system ground them down. Occasionally parents would be a pain but mostly administrators, school boards and politicians with all sorts of agendas (agendi?) other than educating the kids.

Oh...reunions? Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!

[warch]

I loved Mr Draughbaugh. I had him for 3rd and 5th grade. He made school fun, and helped me through some health crap. I respected and trusted him, and he respected and supported me.

Ok Tony. Public apology for recommending that you take 12th grade Humanities. When I had it, it was (radically)team taught by a group of teachers - music, art, English, philosophy-that actually seemed interested in the subject matter, making connections, allowing creative projects, and getting us out to museums, theaters, and the like. For me, it was a revolutionarily open classroom. I didnt have the stupid jerk teachers that your class was saddled with. Again, sorry. I thought your chances of having a similarly good experience were high. gulp.

I liked my HS art teacher, Mrs. Doughty, and took her for 3 years, including that Humanities class. She was unconventional to say the least. I remember her tap dancing on the desks to reinforce our need to shade eyesockets in our selfportraits. (She got reprimanded by the assistant Principal who was walking by, and that made her even cooler.) I thought she was one of the smartest, interesting people I had ever met. And she called me on my shit, made me feel like I had some contribution to make. And I made some good freaky art friends. So obviously, a big reason I work with art today.

My worst teacher experience was in 10th grade band. It was sped band. Thats the band made up of all the bad, lazy, second string musicians, and we knew it. And it was led by this guy who was nervous, not respected, and tortured by smart alecky trumpet players. I can see his face, but can't remember his name. He made us play boring Sousa marches. One day he snapped. He bounded back through the band to physically attack this kid. En route he plowed a metal music stand into my face and knocked me to the ground. I had a spit lip. Got all ugly and swollen. He got suspended for a week. And didnt come back the next year. I felt sorry for him, because he truly was being tortured. We had this gross meeting with the administration and he was in tears.

Otherwise, I managed to surf through school making few waves. Average, no standout academically. I never did homework, just slapped shit together before class, few teachers really expected that much. Other than art, No one really challenged me. I was seen as a goof. By 12th grade, I was frustrated and felt that few thought I had a brain or took me seriously. ('cept Tony- he was this gem already at 16, that others could miss or squelch that? unbelievable.)

[xoxoxoBruce]

Ah ha...I was right. Had the feeling he was always cool.

[Undertoad]

shux

[juju]

My junior high and high school years were so bad and so psychologically damaging that I've mentally blocked the entire experience. I can't remember any of it, because there's nothing good to rellve. In fact, I haven't thought about it at all since I've graduated, and it is my full intention to completely forget the experience.

But I am glad it doesn't happen to everyone.

[juju]

Hey, I just realized... that's why I didn't go to college until I was 23! It took me 5 years to get my self-esteem and self-worth back.